August in the vegetable garden

By Charles Dowding, No Dig Gardener and writer

At the time of writing, growth has been slow so far with more damage than usual. I hope that you are achieving some harvests at least. The stories of one courgette plant causing gluts now sounds unlikely. Melons this year may run out of time to ripen, even under cover.

August

August’s harvests open the door to clearing and re-planting. Raise plants under cover if possible, then you can re-populate beds very quickly with new vegetables. Timing is important in autumn as daylight fades and temperatures fall.

Fewer weeds, more companions

A beautiful aspect of no dig is that fewer weeds appear. You need less time spent for maintenance and have more for re-planting. Another advantage is healthier soil resulting in less worry about four-year rotation. I do not practice that and you can pop in new plants wherever space allows.

Don’t worry either about so-called companion planting. In my experience all plants like all other plants, as long as they have sufficient light and moisture. Companionship is about plants being close to others, especially when small, as happens with multi-sowing.

Problems you may encounter

In wet conditions, check for potato blight. If you see damage on the leaves or stems, best cut them all off. Blight shows as brown, translucent rotting and it spreads rapidly. If you can get the potatoes dry after harvest, they can go in paper sacks to store, but need checking every two to three weeks to remove damaged ones.

• Summer slugs are prevalent in wet weather: it’s worth going out in the early evening after rain to collect
  them up and move them to wild areas away from your vegetable plot. You will probably be surprised by what
  you find emerging.
• Remove weeds when small if possible: it’s quicker.
• Have some mesh cover ready for placing over brassica plants, to keep insects and pigeons off them.

By August you may have Kuri squash ripening

Late-summer sowings

In chronological order through the month they are Chinese cabbage, salad rocket, spinach, mustards, pak choi, coriander, chervil. Spinach is a big one, because if you sow in the first half of August, there’s a good chance of having spinach to pick from late September until next May, with a pause in winter. Towards the end of August sow spring cabbage and spring onions for harvest next April and May.

This is an excerpt of an article featured in the latest issue (Summer/Autumn 2024) of our members’ magazine The Pod.

To read the full article, please sign up to become a member of the Vegetarian Society and get your copy of our Summer/Autumn 2024 magazine! Joining us costs as little as £3 a month.